Trade deadline day is a time of excitement and anxiety for players, teams and fan bases all across the NHL landscape.\u00a0 For players it means having that fear your phone will suddenly ring or if a coach pulls you aside.<\/p>\n
You can imagine your heart skipping a beat as you attempt to brace yourself for what is coming next.\u00a0 Fans may wait with nervous anticipation, but for the most part they have it pretty easy.\u00a0 They won’t be the ones uprooting their lives and moving to another club in another part of North America.<\/p>\n
Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin<\/strong> told his team at the beginning of the year ‘its about fucking winning” and today’s moves reflect that approach.\u00a0 In fact, Guerin might as well have added “right now!” at the end of that statement.<\/p>\n Case in point, the Wild traded for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury<\/strong> from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional 2nd round pick in 2022 which could turn into a 1st round pick if Minnesota earns at least 4 wins in the first two rounds of the playoffs.\u00a0 So in essence, it is just a 2nd round pick 2022 unless the Minnesota Wild make the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2003.<\/p>\n Seems like a fair price for last season’s Vezina Trophy winning goaltender and one who has lots of Stanley Cup playoff experience.\u00a0 Minnesota already had an extra 2nd round pick in 2022 by trading the rights to Jack McBain<\/strong> to the Arizona Coyotes and they avoided poaching from their deep pool of prospects.<\/p>\n The club is also expected to an additional 2nd round pick from the league for the fact the team did not sign former 1st round pick (24th Overall in 2018) Filip Johansson<\/strong>.\u00a0 So we added Fleury and still may have two or possibly three 2nd round picks in this year’s draft depending on how well this move works out?\u00a0 Brilliant.<\/p>\n It is the kind of move you make if you want to avoid being a one-&-done in the playoffs.\u00a0 No doubt, this news has to be a punch to the gut to incumbent starter Cam Talbot<\/strong> who has won his last five starts with the team.<\/p>\n Goals against average are pretty close between Fleury (2.95) and Talbot (2.92) but this would also allow the Wild to rotate between the two with confidence.\u00a0 At least in theory that sounds plausible they both might be better not having to shoulder all of the starts on their own.<\/p>\n Sources say Marc-Andre Fleury was asked about the #mnwild<\/a> 2-3 days ago and agreed to waive if a deal could be worked out because he believes the Wild are a contender. Fleury had a “very, very short list.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n